John William Tomkins

[Lin007]

My interest is primarily in the Smith family so the Tomkins info I have is rather meagre. In fact, I have picked up several pointers from this forum which I shall follow up and for which I am grateful.
I downloaded Samuel Tomkins & Eliza Alicia Isabella Smith's marriage from the London Metropolitan Archives on Ancestry. Most frustrated to find that others on the page were fairly easily readable but the one I want not good. Guess that we should all be thankful that the registers have survived at all. Samuel is described as a Widower and the various censuses have his occupation as a Banker.
Samuel Tomkins and his son appeared as witnesses at the Old Bailey Ref t18290110-16 10 january 1828.
They were Partners in the Banking House of Willis & Co of Lombard Street which was founded in 1700.
I also have a note of a miniature portrait by William Booth of Alicia Ame, Anne Lydia and Mary Jane daughters of Samuel Tomkins, Banker. I think you might find it if you search the National Portrait Gallery site.
Sorry I can't be of more help

[F Hodgson]

Hi Keith,

I am researching my family tree and am descended from the WIlliam Catherwood you mention in your email of 7th Dec 2010.

I am very interested in your comment that he came from Hurst Village, Bucks.  Can I ask where you found this information?
I know William Catherwood & his wife Elizabeth were living in Rugby in the early 1740's before coming to London (their daughter Elizabeth was born & died in Rugby 1741). Elizabeth's family were the Pollards of Rugby (glovers by trade), but I havent been able to find out where he came from.
By the by, John James Catherwood was the father of the famous explorer Frederick Catherwood (1799-1854).
best regards
Fiona

[K Rees]

Hi Fiona

Thank you for the hint that I need to file my rough notes better!

I finally did find my references to the Catherwood family and will look into the matter further, but in the meantime my reference to Hurst  may have come from the Hurst Village Parish Registers history.woodedhill.org/HURST/PRD-c.htm

In the meantime, I will look at my notes to see what else I can come up with.

I find Rootschat a great forum where many people help me, so I will see what I can do for you.

Keith

[K Rees]

Fiona

In the meantime, this is where John James Catherwood is named as an exe of my gggggrand mother's (whatever) Will, indicating a close friendship. As both sons were doctors living nearby, I went looking for some possible connection.

Mary Petch, Shoreditch, Middx.                    WILL                    Proved 14 Jan 1823     PROB11/1665
      This is the last Will and Testament of me Mary Petch of No 17 Hoxton Square in the Parish of Saint Leonard, Shoreditch, in the County of Middlesex, widow...  and I nominate and appoint my son George Ellis Petch of Castle St, Falcon Square in the City of London, Doctor in Medicine and John James Catherwood of Charles Square, City Road in the County of Middlesex Esquire Executors of this my Will.


Keith

[K Rees]

Hi Valda,

Persistent may eventually win out....

We have located two pieces of information of William Petch being first in the court of the Duke of York, then appointed to George 111 as a page; even though the Australian folklore said a Dr.

April 23 1767
William Petch esq Page to His Royal Highness the Duke of York is appointed Page to His Majesty

Then 31 Mar 1770
Petch, W   recorded in the reference: The bedchamber:Pages of the Backstairs 1760 -1837.

Now,
I have "found" a gracious person in England who has inherited many Tomkins papers and portraits/ photographs etc. This lady has never heard of a royal connection in her ancestry.

She decided to go through a box of memorabilia and found a portrait with an inscription on the back. It read

A Dr Petch
I think connected with my uncle Samuel's wife's family

E.T.

These details are promising; however, the portrait could be William Petch's son Dr. George Ellis Petch, thus still leaving William Petch, still a Page in the Court of George 111.
No, I can not find a death for William Petch nor a Will.

His death has to be post 1770 and pre 1800. There are no burials in Bunhill Fields to match.

Keith

[Valda]

Hi

On William Petch and Mary Ellis' marriage allegation 7th January 1763 William is described as a gentleman of the parish of St Ann Westminster.
1st May 1782 George Ellis Petch the son of William Petch late of the parish of St James Westminster gentleman was apprenticed to Benjamin Bray merchant Taylor for 7 years.
Consistently in Westminster. Findmypast is the website indexing and putting online the parish registers held at Westminster Archives.

You could also ask for further information from the Royal Archives

http://www.royal.gov.uk/the%20royal%20collection%20and%20other%20collections/theroyalarchives/theroyalarchives.aspx


Regards

Valda

[K Rees]

Hi
I am back on the William Petch research again, looking for "who was the Hon Lady Dorothy Petcher?"

I now can rule out George 111's Page of the Backstairs William Petch's wife Mary Ellis. I have located her father as being Richard Ellis, who died Carpenter's Hall, London Wall 1772. His Will records his daughter inheriting as being Mrs. Mary Petch. Carpenter's Hall is significant as it was also the home/work place of their daughter Elizabeth Ann Petch's husband Samuel Tomkins and the connected Luck families.

When William Petch married Mary Ellis in 1763, address given as St. Ann Soho, Westminster. No evidence of Wm Petch paying tax there, other than the King and Queen owned apartments, one valued at 16 pounds.

New find:
Names and descriptions of the Proprietiers of Unclaimed Dividends South Sea Company as per 31 Dec 1790 listed:
William Petch, Pall Mall, deceased  Date when dividends became payable July 1766, no of dividends 1.
Pall Mall may match his apartment now at St. James Palace, and Wm died in 1771. His wife and family swapped apartments with the Queen's hairdresser Frederick Albert.

From the diary of Charlotte Albert, (Mrs. Papendik)...
The Queen, upon the advancement of my father, deducted her allowance for the house in town. He was anxious about Petch's widow and children, and in addition to the King's pension, offered them the use of our residences as we vacated them.

I need to find out more of William Petch's parents. Was his mother Hon Dorothy Petch ( I see on a London tax entry for a 1719 that a William Petche had a stroke following the e  on his name, which could easily be mis-read as Petcher.